Travel where no man has gone before with this decade-by-decade progression of science-fiction classics. From the classic, low-budget space exploration Flash Gordon tales of the Saturday matinee serials, to the slick CGI-realized world of The Matrix, science-fiction films have long been pushing the boundaries of the visually and dramatically fantastic--turning the known world on its head, playing with the laws of physics, and all the while holding their audience spellbound. The Science Fiction Universe . . . and Beyond offers a breadth of knowledge, insight, and passion to a century of close encounters, black holes, time travel, distant planets, impossible quests, nuclear war, futuristic technology, inexplicable forces, spaceships, extraordinary monsters, and subterranean societies.Arranged chronologically, showing the progression of sci-fi over the decades, and delving into interesting back stories and trivia, this volume includes a variety of classic films and television shows, such as The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), The Twilight Zone (1959-1964), Doctor Who (1963-1989), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), A Clockwork Orange (1971), Star Wars, Episode IV--A New Hope (1977), Alien (1979), E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982), Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), Stargate SG-1 (1997-2007), Battlestar Galactica (2004-2009), and many others.